As a sophomore, Andrew Bingham '07 developed an idea for interstellar space travel that reduces the timeframe for missions. His design made use of external acceleration stations strategically placed throughout the solar system. Now, manned missions could reach their destinations in a matter of a few short years rather than in decades. That caught the attention of NASA.

Today, Andrew is a full-time engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory rover project.

Clarkson University » Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering » Undergraduate Programs

The Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering offers B.S. degrees in both programs, designed to maximize the potential of our students.

The Aeronautical Engineering Program prepares participants to competently apply knowledge of mathematics, heat, mass, and momentum transfer, solid mechanics, dynamics, material science, and social and economic factors to solve entry-level professional problems associated with the design and manufacture of aircraft and related systems.

Aeronautical Engineering students receive a much more structured program intended to prepare each individual for a career in the aerospace industry. This program focuses on the following areas: Aerodynamics, Propulsion, Aircraft Structures, Flight Mechanics, Stability and Flight Control of Aerospace Vehicles, Aircraft Design and Aerospace Materials

The Mechanical Engineering Program prepares participants to competently apply knowledge of mathematics, heat, mass, and momentum transfer, solid mechanics, dynamics, material science, and social and economic factors, to solve entry-level professional problems associated with the design and manufacture of mechanical systems.

Mechanical Engineering students receive a broad background in the following areas: Materials, Solid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, Dynamic Systems and Design Engineering

The program outcomes are the generic abilities that graduates will demonstrate that they have acquired. The defining characteristics of professional problems and the process used to solve them lead directly to these generic program outcomes.

• Competence in employing the solution process to solve professional problems.
• Competence in transforming a physical system into a mathematical model, using a combination of scientific knowledge, physical intuition, and mathematical techniques, and in extracting meaning from that model by numeric or analytic solutions, approximation or estimation, to evaluate a proposed solution or make a decision.
• Clear communication in written, oral, and graphical form.
• Competence in collaboration with individuals of differing backgrounds.
• A competent understanding of the interaction of a proposed solution with the social, economic, and natural and manmade environments.
• Instill the habit of continued learning so, as professionals, graduates will prepare themselves to solve new or more difficult problems.